Bass World, Mar. 2008
Have you been looking
around for something a little different to load into
your iPod or keep you company as you drive?
Well, stop looking around and get Look
Around by the
Fantastic Merlins. With the many eyes covering
the CD package, this product may see you before you
see it! With a quartet lineup of sax, cello,
bass, and drums, there is, as one might expect, an
emphasis on linear sounds and construction.
Often working independently of one another, each
player contributes an important voice to the group
sound; solo and accompaniment roles are blurred or
combined. Stylistically, the Merlins’ music is
perhaps closest to jazz, as the music features much
improvisation, as well as grooves (overt or implied)
that are definitely swinging (for example,
I Was Behind the
Couch All The Time and Lenny). However, there are also
classical overtones, as on Nathan Hanson’s
A Very Small
Animal.
Here the first half of the track has bowed bass and
cello, along with the saxophone, playing long
sustained tones and haunting melodies, and could be
heard as a modern classical piece in a “drop the
needle” test. Additionally, on this track, as
on many of the others, the tenor sax and the cello
are “timbre twins” – what a wonderful instrumental
pairing!
Without seeing the music, it is sometimes difficult to tell which parts of the pieces are written, and which are improvised, but it sounds as if much is improvised – often free. To create music such as this and to present four equal voices coming together to form a unified whole, there must be a very high level of musicianship, and that is certainly in evidence here. The drums are sometimes used traditionally (time/groove), but more often as another color; this is wonderful, particularly in the hands of Federico Ughi, who (incidentally) contributes two compositions, including the title track. Hanson and cellist Jacqueline Ferrier-Ultan are also quite accomplished; of course it’s fantastic to hear a cellist playing “outside the Bachs,” and Ferrier-Ultan really tears it up.
Bassist Brian Roessler more than holds his own as one-fourth of a free-improvising group. He is strong technically (time, pitch, chops), but also delightfully creative, and bestows a big, warm sound on the listener. Mature playing throughout, interesting compositions (with contributions from all bandmembers), more moods than tunes, freely improvised counterpoint, and musical conversations worth listening to more than one or twice – with multiple listenings, one’s reward will be a deeper (and deserved) understanding and appreciation. Give Look Around a listen.
--- Chris Kosky, Bass World vol. 31 no. 3 2008
Without seeing the music, it is sometimes difficult to tell which parts of the pieces are written, and which are improvised, but it sounds as if much is improvised – often free. To create music such as this and to present four equal voices coming together to form a unified whole, there must be a very high level of musicianship, and that is certainly in evidence here. The drums are sometimes used traditionally (time/groove), but more often as another color; this is wonderful, particularly in the hands of Federico Ughi, who (incidentally) contributes two compositions, including the title track. Hanson and cellist Jacqueline Ferrier-Ultan are also quite accomplished; of course it’s fantastic to hear a cellist playing “outside the Bachs,” and Ferrier-Ultan really tears it up.
Bassist Brian Roessler more than holds his own as one-fourth of a free-improvising group. He is strong technically (time, pitch, chops), but also delightfully creative, and bestows a big, warm sound on the listener. Mature playing throughout, interesting compositions (with contributions from all bandmembers), more moods than tunes, freely improvised counterpoint, and musical conversations worth listening to more than one or twice – with multiple listenings, one’s reward will be a deeper (and deserved) understanding and appreciation. Give Look Around a listen.
--- Chris Kosky, Bass World vol. 31 no. 3 2008